Philip a brief blue ridge ha...

A Brief Blue Ridge Half Recap
The papers will say this race was about the rain and the papers will be wrong. This race will always be about mental fortitude. From time to time, such as today, mother nature might add an element to the mix of thing we runners deal with, but rain is just rain and most of us bathe daily anyway so getting wet is a minor issue.(Now having said that I must admit I usually don't run in the rain so this was a learning experience.)

More pressing than the rain was the fact that I had forgot my Garmin. I have had my Garmin with me logging my outdoor activities ever since I won it as a door prize (courtesy of East Coasters) at last years Mountain Junkie Into The Darkness night trail race. So with no tunes by choice and no Garmin by fate I was going to have to run naked for the first time in 6 months. I think it helped cause I knew that without Garmin to pace me that I would have to focus on a hard aggressive pace for the whole race in order to meet my goals.
The first 3rd of the race is the run to Mill Mountain Star.Every race, I always start out at hyper speed then slowly taper to a manageable pace. I knew I was cruisin with some heavy hitters and I expected to get dropped and passed going up Mill Mtn. Somehow I kept the heavy hitters in sight and only 2 people managed to squeeze by me on the way up to the star!
The middle 3rd of the race was amazing for me. Going down Mill Mtn. I pulled away from some pursuers by a lot. I must have been flying, but I felt like I was only giving 93%. This time last year I sucked on downhills, but I designed my Parkway training routes to be downhill intensive so I've improved on that a lot. Eventually 3 people caught me right along the Rke Greenway section. No biggie, thems the brakes when the strategy is to "fly-n-die". One of 'em was the lady who eventually won the womens first place overall with a 1:32:55.
The last 3rd of the race I was starting to feel some fatigue setting in but it was manageable and I think I kept my pace on target. I got passed twice more, but stayed strong enough to make a 10th place overall finish with a 1st place among men in my age group.
I wanted this race to be a referendum on my chances of Boston Qualifying in Richmond in the fall. With a final pace of 7m26s per mile I did maintain a qualifying pace. Bring it on Richmond...me and you...man vs marathon round 2... this fall.